FROM THIS EPISODE

Early voting, especially in swing states, has changed the dynamics of presidential campaigns. Will the race effectively be over before Election Day? Has "Voter ID" boomeranged against the Republicans? They're complaining of "voter fraud" by a firm they hired to increase registration. Also, US military deaths in Afghanistan top 2,000, and the US Supreme Court opened another session today. It could be just as controversial as last year's was.

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are besieged with advice about how to score points with voters in three debates starting day after tomorrow. But with almost half the electorate, it may be getting too late. Early voting is already underway in states that could decide the outcome before Election Day. Meantime, Republicans have made "voter fraud" a major issue, and Republican legislatures have passed "voter ID" laws, even when there's not much evidence that fraud is widespread. Now, in one of this year's political ironies, the Republican Party has fired Strategic Allied Consulting — a firm it hired to increase GOP registration. We hear how new forces are re-shaping national campaigns.

The Taliban is claiming credit for another suicide bombing that killed foreign troops, Afghan soldiers and civilians today. On Saturday, a clash Saturday between Afghan and NATO soldiers may have produced the 2000th military casualty in this country's longest war. Rod Nordland is in Kabul for the New York Times.

The US Supreme Court is back in session today and this year's decisions could be just a controversial as those of last year. The Court closed last year's session with the dramatic, final-day approval of President Obama's Affordable Care Act — with Chief Justice John Roberts joining his four liberal colleagues for the first time in a 5-to-4 decision. Three days before that, it struck down most of Arizona's anti-immigrant law. Georgetown University Law Professor David Cole asks, "What will they do for an encore?"